Prize plots

Prize plots


By DQ
January 28, 2026

Ones to Watch

As the winner of the Nordic Series Script Award 2026 is announced, read DQ’s interviews with the writers behind all five nominated shows: Jag for ner till bror (My Brother), Ølhunden Berit (A Better Man), Queen of Fucking Everything, Reservatet (Secrets We Keep) and Vigdís.

In the event’s landmark 10th year, the winner of the Nordic Series Script Award has been presented in recognition of outstanding writing in a Nordic drama series. As is now tradition, five series were nominated – one each from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden – with the winner announced at a ceremony held last night during the Götenborg Film Festival’s TV Drama Vision event.

Supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the award was first won in 2017 by Mette M Bølstad and Stephen Uhlander for Nobel, followed by Adam Price for Herrens veje (Ride Upon the Storm) a year later. Finland’s Merja Aakko and Mika Ronkainen picked up the prize in 2019 for Kaikki Synnit (All the Sins), while Sara Johnsen won in 2020 for real-life drama 22 Juli (22 July).

In 2021, Maja Jul Larsen took home the award for Ulven Kommer (Cry Wolf), and the 2022 winners were Gísli Örn Gardarsson, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Mikael Torfasonn for Icelandic series Verbúðin (Blackport).

Kenneth Karlstad claimed the prize in 2023 for Norwegian drama Kids in Crime, while Johan Fasting, Silje Storstein and Kristin Grue shared the prize in 2024 for Makta (Power Play).

Last year, the award went to Pelle Rådström for Swedish series Smärtpunkten (Pressure Point).

Find out more about the winner and fellow nominees in this year’s competition, with links to DQ’s interviews with each writer.

Winner: Ingebord Topsøe (pictured above at this year’s ceremony)
Series title: Reservatet (Secrets We Keep)
From: Denmark
Original broadcaster: Netflix
Produced by: Uma Film
Starring: Marie Bach Hansen, Simon Sears and Lars Ranthe
Air date: May 2025
When a young au pair vanishes in an upper-class Copenhagen suburb, one woman is determined to find out who’s responsible – even if her search implicates her closest friends and loved ones.
Read DQ’s interview with Ingebord Topsøe here 

Nominee: Karin Arrhenius
Series title: Jag for ner till bror (My Brother)
From: Sweden
Original broadcaster: SVT
Produced by: Filmlance
Distributed by: Nordisk Film
Starring: Amanda Jansson, Rasmus Johansson and Jakob Öhrman
Air date: December 2025
In this series adaptation of Karin Smirnoff’s novel, Jana Kippo returns to her home town in Västerbotten to save her alcoholic twin brother – and is forced to confront love, guilt and dark family secrets.
Read DQ’s interview with Karin Arrhenius here

Nominee: Tiina Lymi
Series title: Queen of Fucking Everything
From: Finland
Original broadcaster: YLE
Produced by: Rabbit Films
Distributed by: Rabbit Films
Starring: Laura Malmivaara Minna Haapkylä, Katja Küttner, Kristo Salminen, Janne Reinikainen and Miro Lopperi
Air date: January 2025
Queen of Fucking Everything centres on leading Helsinki real-estate agent and high-society fixture Linda, who wakes up one morning to find her husband missing, probably dead, leaving her in millions of dollars of debt. Unwilling to give up her lavish lifestyle, Linda turns to a life of crime to keep up appearances. She starts with small-time theft, but is then drawn deeper into the city’s criminal underworld – and eventually murder.
Read DQ’s interview with Tiina Lymi here

Nominees: Ágústa M Ólafsdóttir and Björg Magnúsdóttir
Series title: Vigdís
From: Iceland
Original broadcaster: RÚV
Produced by: Vesturport
Distributed by: Reinvent Studios
Starring: Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir and Elín Hall
Air date: January 2025
A biopic about former Icelandic president Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, which follows her journey from an ordinary girl who wanted the same opportunities as her brother to her studies in France and her career running a theatre group before entering politics and becoming the first woman in the world to be democratically elected head of state.
Read DQ’s interview with Ágústa M Ólafsdóttir and Björg Magnúsdóttir here

Nominee: Thomas Seeberg Torjussen
Series title: Ølhunden Berit (A Better Man)
From: Norway
Original broadcasters: NRK (Norway), ZDFneo (Germany)
Produced by: Maipo Film and Artbox
Distributed by: Beta Film
Starring: Anders Baasmo Christiansen and Ingrid Unnur Giæver
Air date: November 2025
Tom (Christiansen) runs his mother’s clothing store by day, but at night he is an outrageously misogynistic online troll who enjoys targeting feminists in general and famous stand-up comedian Live (Giæver) in particular. When Tom’s ongoing harassment causes Live to break down on stage, and later reveal his comments, hackers come to her support and succeed in tracking down Tom and exposing his identity. With nowhere to turn, he shaves off his beard and hides himself by wearing clothes from his mother’s shop. But scared, alone, homeless and devoid of his online world, he experiences compassion and warmth from strangers. Meanwhile, Live becomes obsessed with Tom when the police suggest he may have committed suicide after he suddenly disappears.
Read DQ’s interview with Thomas Seeberg Torjussen here

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